Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 516: Chapter 103: Wretched World, Mad Priest, and Prelude to the Descent of the Star Empire

The morning sky was so bright.

But for Saar, this moment was filled with endless darkness and despair.

"You old bastard!"

"The days when you Clergy could throw your weight around are long gone!"

"Got the money yet? And listen up, you’ve only got three days left!"

"If you still can’t scrape the money together, old man, then hmph! You can forget about keeping this Monastery open."

"Of course, if you’re willing to sell some of the Monastery’s children to us, well, that’s another story! Hahaha..."

"Just get it through your thick skull, old bastard. Forget keeping the Monastery open—we’ll even start sending you *more* kids. You love raising children, don’t you? We can let you raise ’til you drop. Hahaha."

"..."

As the gang members walked away, the older children gathered around Saar looked worriedly at the Elder Priest.

"Father Saar... I... maybe we should run away!"

"They’re the Canglang Gang, the biggest gang in the West City District."

"They’re capable of anything. We... we..."

The dozen or so older children were the last of the Monastery’s helpers. They were needed for everything, from taking care of the younger children to helping the Monastery by begging or finding work elsewhere.

As for the nuns?

Long ago, after Saar’s Lord fell, all the nuns had either fled, or...

In short, their fates were utterly miserable.

The fate of this nation’s Royal Family was even more difficult to put into words.

In short, after the old gods fell and the New Gods appeared, the nation could no longer be considered normal.

Many of the old Nobility, including Middle-High Tier Transcendents from their ranks, were almost completely hunted down by the minions of the evil New Gods.

And what became of those who were captured?

Ostensibly, they were sent to the world of the Holy Titan Race to serve the Divine Race.

But as for what truly happened to them, no one knew.

It had been three years since the fall of the Loren World.

To the Deities, it was perhaps but the blink of an eye.

But for Saar, an Elder Priest from a small district who had only ever been a Low Tier Transcendent, it felt like a lifetime.

The old Order had completely collapsed, and the new one was still mired in chaos.

The New Gods and Alien Gods had gained many followers.

Most of them, however, had been from the lowest rungs of society in the old world.

They were street thugs and gangs in the employ of slave traders.

In short, after the entire Loren World fell and agents of the Exotic Deities appeared to snatch away nearly all Middle-High Tier Transcendents, the Order of the world was thrown into utter disarray.

This chaos was made even worse by a decree from the so-called Divine Race.

The declaration from the so-called Titan Divine Race to all living beings of this world went something like this:

The holy Titan Race, the great Divine Race, would grant every wretched life in this world a chance.

A chance to change their lives.

And that chance was this: let all fight amongst themselves for power, for everything!

Those who emerged victorious from this great "War for the World"—or even the first to establish a new Kingdom ruling over no fewer than fifty major cities—would be granted an audience with the great Divine Race, the supreme rulers of this world.

They could even earn the right to become Deities themselves, or to travel to other, more prosperous worlds!

Pleasing the Divine Race, pleasing the great Master of the World—that was the only path to survival.

One can only imagine the chaos that engulfed the world after such a decree was issued.

With no interference from the minions of the Alien Gods or New Gods, everyone had an equal opportunity to engage in a new, world-spanning struggle for power.

Furthermore, the so-called great Divine Race had sealed off all paths of advancement beyond the Middle Tier.

All living beings were forced to fight with only Low Tier strength.

Under such conditions, even an ordinary person had a chance to vie for supremacy.

Chaos!

Unprecedented chaos.

For instance, Saar knew that this city had once been the capital of a Duchy. Over the past three years, in many of its districts, factions had constantly risen only to be swiftly crushed by others.

The cycle of rise and fall was unimaginably fast.

The so-called Canglang Gang was simply the latest major power, having emerged only six months ago to seize control of most of the city’s West City District.

They extorted exorbitant protection fees, dabbled in the slave trade, and even ran all sorts of businesses that would have been considered shady or illegal in the past.

In short, with no moral constraints to hold them back, they had expanded at a shocking pace.

Many of the district’s youth had even joined the gang.

It was a dog-eat-dog age, an age of depravity.

Would a Chosen King emerge?

No one knew. But for the foreseeable future, this former ducal capital, along with the surrounding cities, towns, and villages, remained carved up and occupied by various warring factions.

In short, the situation was more chaotic than ever.

And in the short term, no one could see any end to this age of chaos.

’Run away?’

Saar looked utterly world-weary.

’In an age like this, where could we possibly run? Especially with fifty or sixty children in the Monastery who couldn’t even care for themselves. Relying on this handful of older kids? We can’t escape. And we can’t hide. Right now, the only solution is to pay the Canglang Gang the money they demand. Of course, there was another option. But that would go against his faith, against everything he had stood for his entire life.’